Excellent Readers Digest tips on what HR won't tell you

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One interesting quote that I forgot to mention, was something like this...on the subject of "being yourself" (DON'T) -

"Forget about being yourself. I (as the HR manager or hiring manager) don't want you to be yourself, and find out about how neurotic and quirky you are. I just want to know if you're going to fit in and do the job well."

Then you have the dreaded personality (screening) tests where there are "no right or wrong answers" (BS!!) where being yourself is sometimes self-sabotaging. I somehow highly doubt that many people answer those tests sincerely anyways, be they NT or AS, and if the person has NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) or psychopathy, then forget it. The only company benefiting from those tests is the company that developed them and sold it to other companies, so they're the ones laughing. But stop me there lest I risk digressing into a subject for a separate thread

Although the 6 months unemployable rule is pervasive, volunteering can go a long way in counteracting that issue. Companies want the best, talent employees. When a person has been unemployed for a long period of time that person's skills has likely deteriorated. The necessary skills for gainful employment change by the minute. And companies are becoming selective in the type of talents they want.

That's why volunteering can be effective. If you can find a good place to volunteer that's aligned with your skills, then employers will take notice. For example, volunteering at a hospital would demonstrate skills in organization, attention to detail, and operations. Besides skills, volunteering shows your active and dedicated to improvement. Unemployment has an unfair, negative connotation in America. Employers think (unjustly) that the unemployed are lazy and irresponsible. Long periods between jobs only feeds into that bias.

While it's good to be employed, don't just settle for a job. If you have aspirations of being a pharmacist, then working at McDonalds will only damage your prospects. Instead volunteering at a blood bank will be far more valuable.

If being unemployed for 6 months means no one will hire you then there really is no hope for me. I've been unemployed for at least 13-14 years. With no education, no experience, or transportation other than walking or the bus I can't even think of any places I could apply other than fast food restaurants and I know I'd do really badly and not last long at those.

They want you to give a couple facts about yourself that are related to the job.

So if the job is for a create sort, talk about your love of art and music, your studies in it and a fantastic thing you did in that area. And not to talk too long about it either. Yes, I have been there and done that with talking too much.

That being said, there is a time and place for being yourself, especially when the job is closely aligned to your special interest. I was lucky this last time round, I am a children's librarian. And as part of my interview, two and a half hours, by the way, I made my interviewers chicken dance with me.

That being said, do not succumb to the 'I want to know what your faults are' question. Don't tell them that horrible thing you did. Don't mention perfectionism either, because then you are being fake. List a small work mistake made at some point, ideally not really related to the job in question, and then list the steps you took to fix it. Emphasize how awesome and resourceful you were in fixing it.

I can sympathize on that one. But not because I have been unemployed for months, but because of serial employment. I.e. I get one job contract, have it come near ending, so get another, only to not love the job, then get another, be laid off, then work part time then get another job... and that was the last two years for me! In one place, I did an introductory interview, did of those silly personality tests, completed a sample project, and then a second two hour interview, only to be told that I was not being hired because I had had too many contracts in the last year and why was I not kept on at a previous job. Frankly til I started my last job a year ago, I was worried I would never be employed anywhere longer than a year. But I get help for my organizational skills and life is much better for me now.

Thanks.

The big problem I had, before I went bipolar and nearly killed myself, how do you get past the online application systems? Even MickeyD's use them nowadays.